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dinotech

Posted 18 March 2009 - 03:10 AM

The Dell XPS comes with two hidden partitions using the Host Protected Area system. One of those partitions is Media Direct.

Would there be a problem with removing those partitions to use the maximum space?

I realize that my laptop's warranty will be limited if not voided if I do not use Dell's configuration. However, I'm a tech, and I shouldn't have to use any support, but laptops are more complex than desktops.

Is Media Direct worth the effort in restoring it?

What configuration do you have your laptop in? (Dell/HP/Acer; XPS line: et. al.)

Finally, what issues should I be aware of before I do this?

Thanks

Dino

0

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Neil Jones

Posted 18 March 2009 - 03:23 PM

Neil Jones

Member 5k

Member

8,476 posts

1) No but you may want to make the system recovery disks which will free up the space straight away and then when you rebuild with Vista/7/Ubuntu you can just rip the partitions out and make new ones as each OS requires.

2) Your warranty is typically hardware only, any software issues tend to fall back to the catch-all clause of "press CTRL+F11 to wipe the machine". The hardware will be covered, just if you have to send it back it'll get wiped and restored to how you originally bought it.

3) Here's everything you need to know about MediaDirect with links to other resources: http://www.goodells....mediadirect.htm - work out whether you need it or not as that's entirely up to you.